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Samantha Ponder said watching her daughter “get posted up by a boy” during a middle school basketball game was “maddening” to see.
Expanding on the matter Sunday in a series of tweets, the former host of ESPN’s “Sunday NFL Countdown” — who has been outspoken about her views on transgender athletes — said her daughter’s team lost the game after playing against “obviously a naturally born boy.”
“It’s happened many times now living in NYC… yet another basketball game today where my middle school daughter is guarding an obviously naturally born boy in a girls tournament,” Ponder wrote. “The parents cheer while the boy is physical and dominant against the girls. The all girls team loses.
“We’ve taught our kids to never make fun of the kid… to always be kind and loving. That the parents are the problem. That no kid is born in the wrong body. But if I’m honest, watching my daughter get posted up by a boy whose parents have deceived him in this way is maddening.
“To everyone saying ‘just move!’ I understand the sentiment but IMHO [in my humble opinion] NYC is the greatest American city that has lost its way. I want to fight for truth and love. I don’t want to give in to insanity and darkness. This is still America.”
Ponder and her husband, former Vikings quarterback Christian Ponder, are parents to son Robinson True, 8, and daughters Bowden “Scout” Sainte-Claire, 11, and Price, 7.
When someone on X asked if “is there any proof to this,” Ponder replied, “I don’t need you to believe me. I’m living it. As a wise friend once told me ‘a tall man feels no need to prove his height.’”
Ponder fired back after another user said she’s “trying to keep [her] grift alive” by sharing her post.
“What’s the grift? what is my motivation?” Ponder said. “I can promise you I am not being paid for this honesty but I have lost millions for it.”
Ponder and Robert Griffin III were let go by ESPN last summer as the network altered its NFL coverage.
Ponder made waves on social media last summer when she weighed in on controversial female boxer Imane Khelif, who won Olympic gold at the Paris Games.
“ENOUGH is what all of us should be saying!! Proud of this woman,” Ponder wrote, quoting a post about Italian Angela Carini, who withdrew from her opening-round bout with Khelif.
Ponder also expressed support for President Trump after his assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally last July.
Ponder first joined ESPN in 2011, working mostly in the college football space. She contributed to and hosted “College GameDay” from 2012-16 and worked as an in-game sideline reporter in 2016.
She was promoted to “Sunday NFL Countdown” in 2017, joining a signature program that airs Sunday mornings prior to 1 p.m. ET kickoffs, with an analyst desk that features Randy Moss, Tedy Bruschi, Alex Smith and Rex Ryan.
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg — who also hosts “NBA Countdown” and the daily morning program “Get Up” — replaced Ponder as the host of “Sunday NFL Countdown.”
